Attachment for elevating graders and the like



A. ALVER 1 1,779,686 ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATING GRADERS AND THE LIKE oct.28, 1930.

Filed Oct. 29, 1927 WWZWMMZ Patented Oct. 278, 1930 UNIT-ED f1,779,686.v g

ARME AINE@ MINNEABOLISf MINSESOTA- ATTACHMENT non nnEvArINGfeaA-nnnsAnn"THEKLSIKE;

,A `applicationmeall october '29,-'1327." yserial Nu 229,624;

This invention' relates toy improvements on gradingand ditchingmachinery and the likei ofthe type wherein the soil is piled v-up and'vthrown upon the en'dlessfconveyor bel-tof an s inclined elevator, the'plowed soil" being carr'ied to the delivery end of the elevator anddischarged therefrom.' Suchv machines arecommon in the artand are oftenreferred to as elevating graders /or-"ditcher'sy v l In machines of thistype small amounts of the plowed soil fallorare thrown between theupperand lower leavesof -the endless conveyor belt often' sticking tothe belt'roller particularly the` belt roll` at the lower: receiving endof the elevator, land thereby" seriously interfering with thefree andper--V fect 'action of the felevator' and sometimes causing seriousdamage to the elei'f-'a-toiI Ilt is-`v the main! object of' my`invention to provide al simple by highly' eiiicient' device which may be-embodied in thermae'hiner'y' when the, same is constructed o'rwhichgmay be applied a's-an attachment-to standard kInaehine'r-y'onthe'market at this timeyfor posi-l tively removing thesoilfromthelower bel-t roll and= from` between` the leaves ofthebeltc orweyor.framiV aware 'that seme devices? have been constructed for 'the purpose ofremoving the -s'oilf` but heretofore 5to my knowledge,suchgdevic'esvhavef beencumbersome andlineicient 'and would-usuallyyclog" or fail to=remove the material whenthe'machine. was? Subj ectedetoheavy d-uty-r`r l f furtherl object ofmy vinventionfis-t'vo -pro-fvidea-device of thel classabove' described whichv will effectivelydivide Vthe 3 soil. and-1 undesirable material:thrown-betweenthelleavesterial from opposite sides'fof saidbel-t.-

Another object isl to" provide conveying means.4 Lfor' removing saidsoil, which "will chop: up or disintegrate the material las well# f as;discharge-theI-same from 'the'machine',`

thereby-` preventingithe same fromVA clogging or obstructing. thekdischarging "means A still furtherfobject is to providea device Yof[the class; described having gnovel,` dise"` integrating` and conveyingelements for Yre'v moving, thesoil and adapted to moreoversimultaneously scrapeAv the under side ofthe frame lis constructed fromchannelmenijbers"Y other material which 'hasffcloggedthereon.' .Y

upper leaf V-of the conveyor' belt to remove l adhering soiltherefromgif Y Theseand-other obj ects and advantages of the .inventionwill be j apparentfrom theV fol-i lowingdescription' made in connectionwithl Y, vthe accompanying drawings; wherein like vframe of anelevatingf grader isl indica-ted by the numerali, the lower end ofsaidfranie" "mi being# disposed slightly abovefthe-ground Elevatorvframe 4 issupported from?4 the" mainframe of Vthe graderin any;I,suitalole way and is usually mountedefor angulaiade-j ju'stmentrelativel'yto the ground? As slliwri,`

securedl together` andfsupportingl thefstati ary conveyor' sidesi bymeansf oi'stra'psioi" brackets' lower conveyor roller??? `isY munt'ed.across the lower endloffratrie i havingits shaft ortrunnionf-Taijournale'd in? suitable bearings18-provided.onf frame pconveyorvbelt');passes-,aroundrller 7 v and" n' winbeeinemdahY fthe-1p1"e sluis-1 posed-at the"receiving'"fendA of thefelevatorinpositionto'throw its furrow' 'directly/.upon affthelowerendoflthecarrier beltyQlY Between'theleavesofthecarrierbeltLQ-and v the frame 4 I? mount4v afconveyr tr'ugli' 'L2-,fshown Iasi secured -to-frame 4.-" means ofbracketsrl1andl4irespeetively1- rlrough'` 172l 9&1

*isl disposed" slightly vto the-'rearof the lower I extending blade 15disposed in close' relation to roller;` 7 and adapted 1 to' 'scrape offdirtfand es.l

roo l It will be noted that the ends of trough 12 project slightlybeyond the sides of frame 4 rigidly secured to;l shaft18-,saidsets'start and have recessed bottoms 12athrough which materialmay drop to theground. A shoe or frame 16 is disposed at one side ofelevator frame 1 suitably supported from frame 4:. A

boxelilre gear casing 17 isrigidly supported on the oppositeside offrame 11S. having its l longitudinal vertical walls horizontally par-lallel with the vertical portion `of frame 16.

A conveyor shaft 18 is journaled'in'-suitable' bearings carried by thevertical lopposing `walls of frame 16and gear casing 17, said shaftextending substantially :horizontally across frame 4 and disposed abovetrough 12. Two -sets of spaced ,conveyor elements are ing-at,approximatelyl the middle. of shaft 18.and, extending`topoints.adjacent the ends oftrough 12.` The conveyor-elements 19 areallidentical and each constitutes asep.-

arateand independent screw segment, as il,- lustrated, beingofsubstantially 90 or one-k fourth of a complete; and spiral havingaradiusslightly less than the distance between` the axis of conveyorshaft18 andtrough 12 andsubstantially equalto Lthe distance betweentheaxis of shaft 18 andthe under surface of the upper leaf of thecarrier belt 9.-

In both sets the conveyoreleinents are' spaced apart andspirallyarranged Vto convey material outwardly from the center ofthelconveyor,ybelt tothe respective sides thereof;

Anygsuitable means maybe provided for driving conveyor shaft 18. Asillustrated,y

shaft 18 isdriven from the lower carrier belt roll, the driving shaft 20being suitably j our# naled in the vertical ends of gearicasing; 17,being transversely disposed with reference to the-conveyor shaft*V y18andV lower shaft L7a. Lowerrshaft'fis extended and terminates withingearV casing 17 having a bevel gea-r21 rigidly secured adjacent theextremity there of. Bevel gear v21 meshes with the bevelgear 22 carriedbydriving shaft 20 and a sec-ond bevel gear 23gonshaft 2() drives.conveyor shaft lSfthrOughengesement with a bevel.

gear 24 rigidlysecuredto the adjacent eX- tremity orflshaft18disposedwithin gear cas- 1ng1 j The operation of my device, while perhapsobvious vfrom the foregoing description, mayV Yberbrieiy summarized asfollows Material is scraped from the lowercarrier roll 7 by'ineans ofblade 15 being pushed rearwardly into conveyor trough,A 12.1 Material;

'is alsol scrapedV from the underside of the upper leafofthe carrierbelt 9 byimeans of the engagement ofthe conveyor segments19 therewith.Such. material 4idrops between the conveyor elements andvtogethefr withmatef l,rial scraped from the roll" is broken up ordisintegrated bythe-in'dependentspaced screw segments 19 and is'moreovercarried,V tooneor the othersidesof the conveyor belt, drop;-

ping downwardly through the apertured ends 12a of the conveyor trough.It is obvious that part of the materialk will be conveyed and dischargedat one side of the belt, while the other portion of the material will beconveyed to the opposite side of the belt.

Even though the soil is wet and sticky the independentspaced conveyorsections 19 will Y disintegrate the same and prevent clogging oftheconveyor andA will nevertheless cause Athe material to'be carried to therespective ends of trough 12 and discharged therefrom.

'Heret-ofore,'V -devices for removing soil from between the leaves of aconveyor belt 1n grading and dltching machinesy have generally`been*,-.unsucce ssful when y the i machine was usedf for plowing wetsoil or clay. VWith my device, Vitwillbe obvious. that the materialbetween the, leaves of the belt may be scraped from the beltandfromtheroll and will bedisintegrated and dischargedv fromv thesides ofthe belt. ;-It will be impossible. for ithe conveyor to bec-ome clogged.i

In view of theforegoing description it will be seen that I have inventedsimple but highly eflicient apparatus for obtaining the desire-dresults, said` apparatus being capable of application to-standardmachinery now in use-.as well asbeing adapted for embodimentjn themanufacture ofY road grading and yditching machinery. j Y

ltwill, of course, be understood that various changes; may be madeliirtheform, de-

tails,l arrangement and'proportions of the partswithout departinglfromrithe scope of.

saidl tlOlgh from the lowencarrier roll, a, rotary; shaftextending.-longitudinally; and' above said trough and below Athe upperleaf.

of said carrier belt, andtwo sets ofindependent spaced screw segmentsfixed to'saidshaft,

thesegments in both setsbeing spirallylarranged, one set being arrangedto deliver to one edge 'offsaid carrier belt; and the other set; i

being arranged Ito deliverzto theoppositeedge of-saidjcarrierbelt. .-1 ii 2. yIngan elevator grader'having.thexusual inclined carrier frame, anendless carrier Ibelt mounted o'n upper and .lower 4carrier* rollers,

an attachment comprising a-tiiough mounted:

transversely of saidcarrierframebetween' the leaves of thecarrierlbeltineans associated r with Said ltroughfor scrapingmaterialinto rotary' shaft extending' longitudinally 'fand above-saidtrough andbelow the upper'leaf ofsaid (carrier belt and a pluralityfofindependsaid trough fromathe lower carrier-'11.011, 'al A i ent spacedscrew segments fixed in spiral Varrangement upon said shaft and adaptedto disintegrate material in said trough and to convey said materialtransversely of said belt, 5 delivering the same at one edge of saidbelt, said screw segments being adapted to engage the under side of theupper leaf of said car- .rier belt to scrape material therefrom.

3. In an elevator grader having the usual m inclined carrier frame andan endless carrier' belt mounted on upper and lower carrier rollers, anattachment comprising a trough mounted transversely ofsaid frame betweenthe leaves of the carrier belt and adjacent the 15 lower carrier roller,said trough having a Scraper at its forward edge for scraping materialfrom said lower roller into the trough, a rotary shaft extendinglongitudinally of` and above the bottom of said trough, a series 2n ofindependent spaced screw segments eX- tending in spiral arrangement uponone end of said shaft for disintegrating material inY said trough anddelivering a portion thereof at one edge of said carrier belt, a secondset 2,1 of spaced screw segments extending-in spiral arrangement uponthe opposite end of said shaft and adapted to disintegrate material anddeliver a portion thereof tothe opposite edge of said carri-er belt,said screw segments :w being disposed in juxtaposition to theundersurface of the upper leaf of the carrier belt.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

A RNIE ALVER

